# History and Why MySQL2

[node-mysql]: https://github.com/mysqljs/mysql
[mysql-native]: https://github.com/sidorares/nodejs-mysql-native
[mysqljs]: https://github.com/mysqljs

MySQL2 project is a continuation of [MySQL-Native][mysql-native]. Protocol parser code was rewritten from scratch and api changed to match popular [Node MySQL][node-mysql]. MySQL2 team is working together with [Node MySQL][node-mysql] team to factor out shared code and move it under [mysqljs][mysqljs] organization.

MySQL2 is mostly API compatible with [Node MySQL][node-mysql] and supports majority of features. MySQL2 also offers these additional features:

- Faster / Better Performance
- [Prepared Statements](/docs/documentation/prepared-statements)
- MySQL Binary Log Protocol
- [MySQL Server](/docs/documentation/mysql-server)
- Extended support for Encoding and Collation
- [Promise Wrapper](/docs/documentation/promise-wrapper)
- Compression
- SSL and [Authentication Switch](/docs/documentation/authentication-switch)
- [Custom Streams](/docs/documentation/extras#connecting-using-custom-stream)
- [Pooling](/docs/#using-connection-pools)
